Most people don’t particularly care for San Jose, the much maligned capital city of Costa Rica. Despite its magnificent location in the Central Valley at an altitude of about 3800 feet above sea level, San Jose itself is relatively drab and unsophisticated compared to other capital cities in Latin America. The city lacks the gleaming skyscrapers and sophisticated architecture of Mexico City and Panama City, and the beautiful ornate colonial architecture of cities like Quito, Bogota or Cusco. In a nutshell, San Jose feels like a working class-blue collar town, just very down to earth.

After so many visits to San Jose, personally I have come to appreciate the city’s unpretentious and humble personality. San Jose feels very comfortable like an old pair of shoes. I enjoy walking around the historic neighborhoods of Barrio Amon and Barrio Otoya located on the northern edge of the downtown area where there are many small boutiquish cafes as well as restored mansions of coffee barons from the late 19th century. Many of these mansions have been converted into small hotels. In addition, there are many small parks - little oases of greenery – scattered around the city. My Verdict on San Jose - PURA VIDA!

Tags: Costa Rica travel, Costa Rica video, San Jose Costa Rica, walking tour San Jose

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 11:23 am and is filed under Costa Rica, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.